Plymouth Royal Marine denies assault on Jesters' doorman

MAGISTRATES heard how two Royal Marines chased a bouncer up an alley before one slammed him into the wall of a Union Street pub.

Christopher Stott, aged 23, and Martin Eccles, aged 26 have previously denied the joint charge of assault by beating and appeared at Plymouth Magistrates Court yesterday for trial.

Eccles – who is being tried in his absence – has previously given his address as Bickleigh Barracks, home of 42 Commando, while Stott is from Marlborough in Wiltshire.

A third man, Christopher Duff who was initially charged alongside Eccles and Stott, had the case against him withdrawn following a successful application by his solicitor that there was no case to answer.

Prosecutor Carrie-Ann Rawlings told magistrates the men were arrested following an incident at the rear of Jesters nightclub in the early hours of April 28 last year.

She said all three had been ejected from the club by doormen at just after 4am after one had allegedly thrown a plastic beer glass over his shoulder and the men had behaved "unacceptably" on the dance floor.

CCTV footage showed the men calmly leave the rear of the premises before Stott is seen grabbing a full bin bag from nearby and hurling it at the club's rear door.

Doorman Khalid Magouti, giving evidence, said he heard a bang and went out to investigate.

Ms Rawlings said one of the men approached Mr Magouti "in an aggressive fashion", taking a "boxing stance".

Mr Magouti backed away but then rugby tackled his alleged attacker.

A second set of CCTV footage shown to magistrates showed Mr Magouti running towards Maxine's bar on the Octagon but as he turns he is body-slammed into the wall by a man identified as Eccles.

Doormen from the bar are seen to intervene and a third set of CCTV footage shows a series of altercations between doormen and the accused.

Mr Magouti said he had been a registered doorman at Jesters for nine years.

He said he had found himself "surrounded" and had felt "threatened" so when he got the chance he ran along the alley to the Octagon.

He said: "They were behind me shouting 'get him, get him, smash him' and all that. I was running towards Union Street so I could be in the open and get some help."

He said that after he was slammed into the wall, knocking his head, he tried to protect himself.

He said: "I was a bit dizzy, I was nearly going to pass out because of the impact on the wall."

The doorman said he suffered a swollen head, an injured wrist and bruises.

During cross examination he denied he had used a brass knuckle duster against any of his alleged attackers.

When interviewed by police both accused men admitted they had been drinking since around 9.30pm the night before. Stott revealed he had drunk "seven or eight pints" while Eccles admitted he was "seven or eight" on the scale of one being "sober" and 10 being "totally drunk".